Town Hall to be redeveloped despite opposition from a neighbouring road

The old Southgate Town Hall will be turned into flats after it was approved by a planning committee last night despite resident opposition.

Members of Enfield Borough Council’s committee voted in favour of turning the building into 19 flats as well as a new three and four storey block of 18 homes which will sit behind the hall in Green Lanes, Palmers Green.

Jennifer Yennaris of Palmerston Road has slammed the plans and said the new block of flats would impinge on her privacy.

She said: “When the old town hall was sold off, we feared it would be housing but there are several issues with the designs.

“As well as taking away the town hall, there will be 18 new flats built in the three-to-four storey high building. This is outrageous and will drastically reduce the view from out garden.

Enfield Southgate MP David Burrowes has shown his support for the resident’s concerns and he admitted he was “disappointed” by the decision.

He said: “We are disappointed and feel let down by the decision that the council has made.
“We are in desperate need of school places in the area and this has been disregarded by the council. Residents are now faced with having to pay a high price in having a building on their doorstep that not only completely disregards the town hall's architecture.

“Now we must make sure that we push for GP services and school places to be at made a priority for Palmers Green.”

Building work will commence this summer and be due to finish towards the end of 2015.